Mercedes had its fair proportion of growth points over the course of System 1’s ground-effect period, however after adopting versatile wings to assist get on prime of its troublesome automotive the staff says it wanted “a little bit of time to adapt” as soon as the FIA clamped down.
After scoring eight successive System 1 constructors’ titles, Mercedes kicked off the ground-effect period on the again foot in 2022. Its zero-pod idea was extra vulnerable to the porpoising phenomenon, and it was scrapping to catch up over successive seasons.
One resolution that the staff explored to enhance the efficiency of its F1 racer was versatile wings, which trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says “labored fairly nicely”.
“During the last couple of years, we have been struggling to get the automotive to show successfully in gradual corners,” Shovlin defined. “A few of our rear tyre temperature points truly got here from the truth that the drivers have been having to make use of the throttle to assist rotation. That led us right into a helpful growth path, permitting the entrance wing to bend.
“That helped in low velocity whereas giving a secure rear in excessive velocity, which labored nicely. Nevertheless, the FIA introduced in rules this yr that restricted that fairly considerably.”
System 1’s governing physique, the FIA, rolled out a clampdown on versatile wings over the course of the 2025 season. The transfer restricted the elasticity that was permitted in entrance and rear wings, with the hardest assessments coming in over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
Mercedes W16 technical element
Photograph by: Antonia Vandersee / circuitpics.de
The assessments impacted every staff otherwise, with some predicting that it will clip McLaren’s wings and finish its dominance – however this prediction didn’t materialise. The brand new assessments did, nonetheless, hamper Mercedes.
“It took us a little bit of time to adapt after these guidelines got here in at Barcelona,” Shovlin added.
“Whenever you’re not the quickest automotive, you take a look at who’s and what they’re doing. We checked out McLaren’s rear suspension and will see what they have been making an attempt to do with anti-lift to maximise how low they might maintain the rear right into a nook.”
The problem that led Mercedes to peruse the versatile wing concept was simply one in every of a myriad that the German staff confronted when F1’s guidelines modified in 2022. And whereas Shovlin doesn’t go as far as to say Mercedes “underestimated” the change, he admits that it “didn’t put sufficient effort” into some facets of the rules.
“Coming into these rules, we wouldn’t say we underestimated the problem of getting a superb through-corner steadiness – stability on entry, rotation on the apex, and good traction on exit – however we clearly didn’t put sufficient effort into carrying over the strengths of the 2020–2021 vehicles,” Shovlin stated.
“Now, everyone seems to be doing comparable speeds by means of corners. The distinction is how nicely your steadiness fits a given circuit, which is what’s separating groups in the meanwhile.”
Mercedes is now gearing up for F1’s subsequent regulation shift in 2026 when new guidelines will dramatically alter the vehicles and their energy models. Whereas Shovlin admitted that the staff nonetheless had “quite a lot of work to do”, he conceded that the approaching change was now “much less daunting than a month in the past”.
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